Shaylon homeless on the street. Photo taken by a friend who later lost track of Shaylon.
(1-22-18) Dear Pete: We are a family with not a lot of means. We have tried in many ways to help my grandson. Please publicize his case. His mother (my daughter) Laural Fawcett recently wrote this account.*
Thank you. Janet Capella.
Here We Go Again On The Merry-Go-Round Of Horrors, written by Laural Fawcett
Shaylon, my son, has had a number of psychotic episodes which led him to harm himself and others.
Severe visual and auditory hallucinations caused him to leave home and end up on the street. He recently spent a year-and-a-half in jail (he was released in June 2017) because he thought a pedestrian passerby was attacking him and trying to set his feet on fire. This occurred in San Francisco where he often ends up when he is hallucinating. For some reason he, and many others like him, are drawn to San Francisco.
I just finished my training as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). In the last couple of weeks, I showed up at Shaylon’s two court hearings. (He was picked up for failing a probation check-in.) What a total, farcical, miscarriage of justice and waste of my time except for the precious opportunity to get a glimpse my son. He was medicated but obviously in psychosis and not well.
The judge repeatedly said, “We don’t want you here. You don’t belong here and you need to stay away from San Francisco.”
He didn’t speak to other criminal defendants, prior to my son, in such a condescending manner. In fact, other defendants were offered programs and assistance.
